The NEC Group's largest online event, "NEC Visionary Week 2022," started on September 12. A total of 84 sessions, including lectures and seminars featuring leading experts from various fields, will be streamed live and on-demand for approximately one and a half months through October 31. This year's theme is "Truly Open, Truly Trusted." Here are some of the highlights from the opening session featuring Takayuki Morita, President and CEO of NEC Corporation, Kumi Fujisawa, Chairperson of the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies (IISE), the NEC Group think tank, and Soichi Noguchi, an astronaut and Executive Chief Fellow with IISE.

Aiming for a Truly Open and Truly Trusted world

Co-creation through being "Truly Open and Truly Trusted"
Takayuki Morita, President and CEO, NEC Corporation

The theme for NEC Visionary Week 2022 is "Truly Open, Truly Trusted."

NEC's Purpose is to create the social values of safety, security, equality, and efficiency and to realize a sustainable society where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. Last year, we announced NEC 2030Vision as our vision for the future of society.

Aiming to realize the NEC 2030Vision, we chose "Truly Open, Truly Trusted" as the overarching theme for this year's NEC Visionary Week.

A truly open market creates diversity and accelerates innovation. And trust in technology and its provider is essential for us to enjoy the fruits of diversity and innovation.

Through NEC Visionary Week 2022, I would like to introduce NEC's technologies and solutions to realize a truly open and trusted world, as well as examples of their implementation, and to think about the future together with you all. In my keynote speech, I talked about the following.

For details, please see the summary

Finally, I would like to introduce our "thought leadership activities."

Through activities that embody and disseminate the vision of the future, NEC is recruiting a wide range of talents and pursuing the social implementation of technological innovations through co-creation. As part of these efforts, IISE, which functions as a think tank of the NEC Group, was reinforced significantly this year. In the opening session, I delved into deep discussions with Kumi Fujisawa, the newly appointed Chairperson of IISE, and Soichi Noguchi, Executive Chief Fellow. How do we communicate to the world from the perspective of consumers? Please make sure to view the session as well.

In addition to innovative and open technologies, mutual trust with customers and partners enables co-creation and creates new value. To that end, NEC will aim to continue to be a trusted partner for everyone. I hope you enjoy NEC Visionary Week 2022 and see for yourself NEC's efforts in becoming a truly open and truly trusted company.

Thought Leadership: a new beacon
Kumi Fujisawa, Chairperson, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies

The Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies (IISE) restarted in April 2022 as the driving force behind NEC's thought leadership activities. I was appointed as Chairperson in April.

We at IISE, serve as one of the "open" windows for NEC to create partnerships in an open and trusted environment. We are in the process of formulating the vision right now, and here I will introduce a partial image of that vision.

There are many stars forming visible constellations in the sky. Constellations have become a beacon for sea travelers, and a guide to the seasons for seed sowers. If you look up at the same night sky with a pair of glasses of a different value system, you may see a new constellation and a beacon that you could not see before. Doing so, you may be able to draw a new vision of the future. We at IISE hope to help with that.

To be able to produce a new vision of the future and serve as a guide for society, IISE is committed to three things.

At a session during NEC Visionary Week 2022, we will discuss the vision of IISE—what we want to tackle in the future, and the possibilities of IISE—and I am very excited.

Please join us in forming these valuable partnerships at IISE.

Delivering a message that resonates between the speaker and their audience
Soichi Noguchi, Executive Chief Fellow, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies

The "astro" in astronaut means "star." "Naut" includes the meaning of being a sailor, that is, a guide, or a navigator. IISE, the think tank of NEC, a company that has developed Japan's leading technologies, has a leadership role to play as a navigator in co-creating the future. That is exactly what thought leadership means.

I myself have shared many of my experiences as an astronaut. I was aware that I could not fully convey the essence of those experiences by telling my story from a one-sided perspective. You cannot properly convey anything unless a speaker and their audience can relate with each other through some kind of dialog (i.e., interaction). We need to have people relating to what NEC can do with its technological capabilities.

When talking about vision, if you are not careful, your words can be like a rootless grass that is not anchored to the ground. Speaking only about what's ideal will not elicit understanding. When it comes to social implementation, the vision is meaningful only when there is a firsthand and actual experience that will serve as the basis for the vision. For this, "consumer perspective," which CEO Morita has emphasized, is essential.

I was appointed as Executive Chief Fellow at IISE in July 2022. I had always been fascinated by NEC's technology, but I joined NEC because I have high hopes in NEC trying to transform itself in a major way. NEC has the capacity to solve social problems around the world. Going forward, I would like to expand our circle of partners and carry out activities to create the future together with them. That is my goal.

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